SUVs have been highly aspirational product for consumers. While high-cost of SUVs kept customers away earlier, the entry of affordable options in the recent years has made the segment the fastest growing in the Indian automotive industry, says Rakesh Rao.

The automotive industry in India is making increasing investments in robots on shop floors to handle complex and repetitive tasks given the need for precision, safety and quality.
In 2016, a survey by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Tata Strategic Management Group concluded that the use of advanced robotics on the manufacturing floors is one way of going forward not only for the Indian companies but also to take ahead the government’s signature ‘Make in India’ campaign.

The love of Indians for SUVs is getting stronger by the day and one out of every four cars sold in the country is now an off-roader. The lure of off-roaders — with high ground clearance, macho looks and relatively-powerful engines — is so strong that their sales volumes have more than doubled over the last five years etc.

Indian arm of American car manufacturer Ford has become the largest exporter of cars and SUVs from India, beating down the local units of Korean car manufacturer Hyundai Motor India which has been the leader in passenger vehicle exports.